Indoor Air Quality Ottawa

After recently buying our home we contacted IAQ Ottawa to test asbestos as we were planning on doing some home renovations. When Shawn from IAQ Ottawa arrived, he went over and beyond the scope of what we had initially contacted him for. Not only did he address all of our questions on asbestos, but also identified a moisture issue in our home that had caused a significant amount of mold in the basement and was missed by our home inspector prior to buying our home. Shawn thoroughly explained why we had a moisture issue in our basement, and our options for next steps, including remediation and how to address the moisture issue. Shawn gave us a clear path forward (which was also outlined in his very thorough and helpful report), and had tones a knowledge and expertise to share. Shawn also gave us tones of great DIY advice on the rest of our home, which have all worked out great! We are so happy that we contacted IAQ Ottawa, and would highly recommend them!

I had a musty basement smell which got worse after leaving A/C off for a couple of weeks. From online reviews I narrowed my list to IAQ and Ottawa Mold & Asbestos Inspections. Bold were highly rated and just did inspections not repairs (which I thought would be a conflict of interest). I decided on IAQ because although their price was higher they seemed to offer a more complete assessment which included HVAC recommendations.

The IAQ inspector (Shawn) did a house walk-around. I was surprised (in a good way) about the number of things he noticed about the general condition of my home from his brief inspection. He then focused on my area of concern (basement) and showed me evidence of my problem and gave detailed of explanations (make sure you have pen and can write fast ) of what the problems, why they were there and how to fix them myself. He also gave me contact info for repair contractors if I wanted to go that route. I was impressed that he even went so far as to check out my shopvac to see if it would be up to the job of vacuuming fine particles of contamination without jeopardizing my health.

I paid extra for air quality samples which were sent to a local lab for analysis and confirmed fungal contamination.

In summary - IAQ was thorough, informative and correct!

I was referred to Shawn and Indoor Air Quality Ottawa by Kollaard’s Engineering in Kemptville. The engineers were involved in testing the soils around my home for soil gases and an oil smell coming in through the basement.

A long since closed gas station uphill across the street had storage tanks that leaked gas into the deep soils. Over the years, the gas then seeped through the soils and was contaminating the home. Oil smell, high humidity, and mold rendered the home unfit to live in.

My grandchildren lived in the house and I was concerned for their safety and I was uncomfortable about having visitors because of the recurring odour.

Shawn provided the testing to establish the levels of VOCs (oil smell) and mold spores in the air. IAQ Ottawa wrote a scope of work for mold removal, foundation sealing and air clearance testing for the mold. Shawn then designed a depressurized floor and wall system that uses 3 air pumps hidden in the walls and sump pump room to vacuum out odor, humidity, and oil fumes before they enter the home. The system works perfectly.

Not only has the original issue been resolved but I am confident that the air circulation system designed by Indoor Air Quality will keep the family safe and comfortable from now on.

Shawn acted as the construction manager to oversee the mold removal, and to check on his wall system he designed, provided room by room layout, and work with the contractors on the finishing.

He continues to assist us in our dealings with the many trades necessary to complete this project. I have absolutely no problem recommending Shawn and Indoor Air Quality for any project of this type.

Excellent experience with IAQ. Shawn, the Chief Inspector, is very friendly and extremely knowledgeable in his field. He took a very logical approach to assessing and inspecting potentially problematic areas and rules things out as he goes. He explains everything in great detail and constantly provides tips, suggestions and advice on what he sees as he does the assessment/inspection. It became evident within the first few minutes of the assessment that he is an expert in his field. You can't go wrong with IAQ if you need to identify and remedy an air quality issue in your home. Would highly recommend to anyone.

There was a smell coming out of our basement and we didn't know from where it's coming from. We did everything possible we could to clear it (duct cleaning, housekeeping, relocating items, etc) but never worked. We also experienced respiratory issues which we think is related to the smell we're inhaling while at home. It was a stressful situation to go through. We called IAQ Ottawa and Shawn came in and determined where the smell was coming from and he gave us solutions on how to eliminate it according to our budget. It's a big relief to finally come home and not worry about our health especially we have small kids. Very thorough and reasonably priced.

This review is an expression of my own opinion, based on true facts, reasonable conclusions, and fair comments resulting from my experience. I believe it to be a matter of public interest for this information to appear on a review.

We had a very negative experience working with Shawn Rankin and Indoor Air Quality Ottawa (IAQ). I called upon IAQ in a state of distress as I was very concerned about air quality in my home. My asthmatic two year old daughter and I had just survived a very rough cold and flu season and I was concerned that we had VOCs in our indoor air, aggravating our airways.

Shawn showed up in my home and immediately gave me a bad vibe. Shawn’s delivery of information and communication style throughout the process, in my experience, felt alarmist, condescending, overwhelming, and confusing. Also, he made several accusations throughout, such as that our home inspector had missed code violations, that our realtor had colluded with the inspector and misled us, that our seller had concealed things from us, and that our home was very poorly built. He spoke very fast, in a rude tone, and used acronyms and terms that I didn’t understand. All in all, his visit was extremely stressful.

Next, Shawn and his team of recommended contractors showed up and cut 5 holes in our walls and caused over $500 of damage in the process of performing visual inspections for mold, without ever sampling the amount or typeof mold spores in our air.

He then provided a final report, which, in my opinion, was extremely long, poorly structured, contained a lot of irrelevant detail, was difficult to consume, was absent actual data on the scale of mold present in our home, and really did not provide a clear or reasonable path forward. It also contained an error that made parts of the report look like a cut and paste of another client’s report, or something that was reused and put together quickly and carelessly.

All said and done, we were charged $1130 for 5 hours of Shawn’s time and did not feel that the cost was even close to commensurate with the value of services provided.

The most concerning part of the experience, however, was the scale and cost of upgrades proposed in the scope of work developed by Shawn, again, absent any actual measurement of mold in our home. He drafted a scope of work costing $20k - $40k to completely gut and rebuild our basement, as well as to action several massively expensive additional upgrades. He also mentioned on site that he would need to be called in several times throughout the recommended work to perform additional tests for Hunta virus, asbestos in the drywall, etc, (all costing $200 an hour) and then come back again to perform clearance testing and sampling to the tune of another $500 plus in additional costs.

In the end, and through engaging others to help us, the root cause of our issue turned out to be plumbing related (fixed for $1k), with the mold clean up being quite isolated and minimal. Future mold prevention didn’t require anything more than simply opening the closet door and allowing our dehumidifier to dry out any condensation forming on the interior walls. We have been left wondering - did Shawn attempt to take advantage of us? Did he really try to help us or did he just see us as an easy target for himself and his network of contractors (2/3 of his recommended contractors disclosed to us that they were his cottage property neighbors) to make money? Did he purposely try to inflame and exacerbate our concerns for the safety and health of our family? Is that ethical? Is this something he does on a regular basis? Based on our experience, we wanted to ensure we shared our story to protect others out there.

Shawn did succeed in educating us a lot on air quality, but through a very stressful, confusing, and frankly, exhausting, roundabout way. He was clear about costs up front, and did deliver everything that he said he would provide. However, I truly wish I had never engaged with IAQ. I would have saved myself a lot of bad vibes, wasted energy, and wasted money (although it could have been worse if I would have trusted his recommendations). We didn’t action any work with anyone he recommended. We would not recommend IAQ to anyone and will not be working with him again.

Shawn did a complete indoor and outdoor inspection on my house, very thorough, very professional. Thanks!

We spoke to Shawn and he was incredibly helpful with our air quality issue. He provided us piece of mind and I would recommend this company to anyone. Thank you again!

I have an allergic condition which requires me to supplement my breathing with oxygen. In an attempt to alleviate this condition, I am having extensive renovations to the basement of my house. After requesting an appointment with Indoor Air Quality Ottawa using their online form, I received both a telephone call and an email confirming the date and time. Shawn, the Inspector, arrived on the dot, and we had a general discussion about the renovations completed to date. He had brought his measuring instruments, but after our discussion he commented that he thought that I was doing everything reasonable and that measurements would not gain much at this time. (I hope that I have stated this correctly). At this point, he said that he would waive his fee, which is normally $400 for the first two hours. He spoke authoritatively and certainly seemed to know the subject matter. Overall, a very positive experience and I would highly recommend this company.

very polite on the phone arrived on time for the appointment .Found the problem in the wall with a thermal camera right away. the first company I had inspect could not find the foundation leak .they wanted me to open walls or dig outside. I recommend Mr Rankin for your inspection